Truth is the first casualty of war, as the saying goes and is proved right time and time again.

The 21st century has thus far been consumed by Western wars in the Middle-East. Most of which have been complete catastrophes. Just last week, Westminster MPs released a scathing report of David Cameron’s foolish foray into Libya in 2011. The Foreign Affairs select committee criticised Cameron for intervening in Libya based on poor intelligence. And much of the media which supported the action was also bamboozled by what Peter Hitchens has described as atrocity propaganda. The same pattern has repeated itself in the reporting of the Syria conflict, which long-time Middle-Eastern correspondent Patrick Cockburn has described as the worst he’s ever seen.

The most striking thing about Patrick Cockburn is that when reading or listening to him, you’re not just receiving his opinion or ideology (as is so common in journalism these days), but very important factual information. This is becoming rarer and rarer. And probably one of the reasons why people are so confused about what has happened in the Middle East.